ARCH 420: Architecture Design 2 students embarked on an ambitious semester trying to understand the relationship between kids, play, and architecture. Using a limited vocabulary of simple shapes and a single material palette of 5/8” Baltic birch plywood students teamed up to design a construction toy for a child that is transformable.

Geo-Joints
Nathan Schulze and Logan Engelking
Brian Schermer Studio

Build A Bug
David Katz and Katy Posewitz
Mo Zell Studio

Munchkin Mountain
Brittany Gabrielse and Brett Van Dyke
Mo Zell Studio

Robot
Jordan Felber and Dan Handel
Marc Roehrle Studio

Ladder
Sang Doan and Jordan Walia
Marc Roehrle Studio

Cart
Terry McMillan and Steve Tolle
Marc Roehrle Studio

The design and construction of a toy provided students with valuable lessons in how to consider spatial and material experiences through tectonics; how users interact with objects in their environment; and how designs benefit from careful consideration and inclusion of specific human experiences. Students considered the materiality of the plywood – the grain, orientation, texture, and cadence. How can the material be translated into something light or heavy? How can the latent qualities be exaggerated or revealed? How can planar material be turned into something volumetric? How does that inform the types of connections? Inspiration was drawn from Ann Tyng’s Tyng Toy and Ray and Charles Eames’ The Toy.

Additional toys from the ARCH 420 studio will be on display at the SARUP Mobile Design Box starting October 19th.